Magnificent Devices 01 - Lady of Devices

of prelude to your debut.”
    “But Mama, you’ve said yourself I cannot go into society until after I’m presented.” Thank heaven.
    “Did I say grand balls? I did not. I said intimate parties here at home, such as the ones I have planned for Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday, and we will of course be part of the progressive dinner on Friday next, after the graduation ceremony. If you had managed to remember your fitting, you would have had new dresses for these occasions. As it is, you will have to make do with something you’ve already worn, and hope the new one is ready for next Friday.”
    Talk of clothes was wearing her out. “I have several pretty dresses, Mama.” They were practically new, invitations from Wellesley House and Astor Place having not exactly flowed in.
    “I believe the blue satin with the asymmetrical drape and Alençon lace will flatter your eyes and figure the best. This Friday we will have a number of young people in for supper and cards.” Lady St. Ives rose and took a piece of paper from her escritoire. Sensing her movement with the statick repulsion that kept it from bumping into furniture, the mother’s helper swerved to avoid her feet. “Look over the guest list and tell me if you wish to add anyone. Your papa may have to leave the card party before supper, so we must make up our numbers.”
    Claire scanned the list. Lady Julia Wellesley. Miss Gloria Meriwether-Astor. Peter Livingston, Baron Bryce. Lady Catherine Montrose. The Marquess of Blatchley. Lord James Selwyn.
    Oh, dear. Except for the last, who was unknown to her and therefore still held out hope for congeniality, the list was nothing short of torture. “You’ve left off Emilie Fragonard, Mama.”
    “Darling, I was hoping for someone of the sterner sex. Besides, her great-uncle was an artist .”
    “She is my closest friend, and her grandfather on her mother’s side is an earl.”
    Reluctantly, her mother set pen to paper. “I had forgotten that.”
    Claire bit back an unladylike snort. Her mother’s memory was more reliable than Debrett’s, and certainly contained more detail. Debrett’s, after all, did not list the annual incomes of the peers and their heirs.
    “And if we are only playing cards, I should like to invite Peony Churchill and her mother, Mrs. Stanley Churchill.”
    Lady St. Ives stared at her. “What an outlandish thing to call one’s daughter.”
    Claire had not actually exchanged more than a few shy sentences with the offspring of her idol. Peony did not mix in the circles Claire’s mother encouraged, and word would travel fast if Claire sought her out. However, an invitation to Carrick House might open doors in Chelsea, if she could only get this past her mother.
    “The name suits her. She is a girl of a certain ... avoirdupois .”
    “But her family? Her connections? Are they related to the Spencer Churchills?”
    “I ... I do not know. It is possible.”
    “I suggest we find out, then.” Her mother laid down her fountain pen and rose from the writing desk.
    “But Mama, I should like you to receive her. She must be of good family, or she would not be going to St. Cecelia’s.”
    “Not so. There are far too many offspring of engineers and explorers trying to enroll in that school. It is only a matter of time before money and dubious accomplishment gains entrance to doors that have before only opened to breeding. I’m really rather glad that it is your last year there.”
    “Please, Mama. It is only two ladies. Surely they will not set our party at odds.”
    “I shall find out if they are connected with the Spencers. If they are, I will welcome them gladly.”
    And if they are not ... Claire heard the words as clearly as if they had been spoken aloud. Even if Claire begged her on her knees, she doubted Lady St. Ives would receive a woman who had helped to map the Niger River, and whose discoveries of diamond deposits in the Canadas had set the South African financiers of the City on their collective ear. She would not be permitted to even speak to Peony Churchill in the corridors at school, and all her tentative efforts to that end would be for naught.
    Frustrated, Claire bit her lip and changed the subject to one that would please her mother. “And how is my little brother today? Has he managed to speak a complete sentence yet?”
    Lady St. Ives’ features lost their pinched look and softened into a smile. “He has indeed. His nanny tells me she has never seen such a forward